General

NJEA Says Christie Is “Illogical” for Rejecting Common Core While Sticking with PARCC

May 28, 2015

Laura Waters

Here’s the press release:

May 28, 2015
NJEA: ‘Abandon the PARCC fiasco’

TRENTON, NJ — NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer today said Governor Christie was being “completely illogical” in calling for the rejection of the Common Core state standards while insisting on a continuation of the controversial PARCC assessments that are tied directly to those standards.

“If the governor is genuinely interested in new standards, the state must abandon the PARCC fiasco, which is taking a terrible toll on the quality of instruction and student learning in New Jersey,” Steinhauer said. “It is completely illogical to use this deeply flawed test if the administration is going to abandon the standards that are driving it.”

You can’t really argue with NJEA’s logic. That’s sad, because Christie’s flip-flop bodes poorly for New Jersey’s commitment to college and career-ready standards and assessments. Politico has the story here, including the “evolution” of Christie’s education platform:

[S]ince 2010, Christie has gone from full-blown support for the Common Core to having “grave concerns” about the standards. Like many governors facing pushback on the Common Core and testing, he set up a commission to review the standards and the number of tests administered in the state. The timing of his speech appears to undercut the commission’s work: Its report isn’t due until the end of July.